Victorian London - Publications - History - The Queen's London : a Pictorial and Descriptive Record of the Streets, Buildings, Parks and Scenery of the Great Metropolis, 1896 - Scene in The Zoological Gardens

Scene in The Zoological Gardens - photograph

SCENE IN THE ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS.

The elephants form one of the most popular features of the '' Zoo". "Men are but children of a larger growth,'' and those who ride on the lordly beasts' backs are by no means only little ones, as our illustration of a characteristic scene in the Gardens on a summer s day shows very clearly. The elephants live in the northern portion of the Gardens, between the Regent's Canal and the Outer Circle, and behind their house is the pond where they bathe when the weather is warm, to the infinite enjoyment of bystanders. But the ponderous creatures come through the tunnel to take their walks abroad in the leafy neighbourhood of the eagles' avaries. One of the Indian elephants now in the Gardens is only a few inches shorter than the much-lamented Jumbo.